Cost to Paint an RV

How Much Does it Cost to Paint an RV?

Keeping your RV in good condition is essential for the comfort and safety of you and your family. Proper maintenance extends its life so that you can take advantage of its presence more. If you have an older model, you may consider repainting it to get a fresh new look.

How Much Does it Cost to Paint an RV Exterior?

The cost of painting a recreational vehicle will depend on the professional contractor you hire, the length of the vehicle, your geographical location, and the type of paint you choose. Your average job of painting an RV costs anywhere between $5,500 and $16,000 in the case of a two to four-color exterior paint job on a standard recreational vehicle that is longer than thirty feet. These high costs are justified by the hard work involved in the preparation of the RV.

In order to get a better idea about how much you should budget for repainting your RV, the table below will give you the average prices for some repainting jobs, that we were able to find online.

Type of Job Price Quoted
Class B RV $2,300
35′ class A motorhome $10,350
36′ motorhome $12,650 for prep, sanding, and five colors
32′ motorhome $6,325 wet sanded, buffed, and one clear coat
33′ motorhome $16,100, which included sanding down to the metal, primer, and final paint job
37′ motorhome $9,775
33′ motorhome $11,500 for a three-color paint job
35′ motorhome $15,525
The skirt only on a 32-foot Winnebago $345

According to a member of the online forum RVForum.net, the average cost of a professional RV repainting job would be anywhere between $8,500 and $11,000.

From another online forum, MotorhomeMagazine.com, we found that the average cost for painting a 36-foot RV would be around $11,500. This cost would include a five-color paint with four coats from Dupont Chroma Premier manufacturer.

Painting a Recreational Vehicle Overview

The estimative costs presented above should include surface preparation like pressure washing, and scraping, but also covering woodwork, floor surfaces, outlets, and the removal of any external hardware.

During the repainting job, the recreational vehicle will be firstly sanded and primed, and then coated with around three to five layers of coat. In order to protect the paint and get that new paint “shine”, this final paint will be covered with a finish coat. Some professionals could also reseal with new stripping, repaint extra accessories and change the exterior vent covers.

Which are the additional expenses?

The costs would increase by more than twenty percent for a multiple-color painting.

You might also like our articles on the cost of a Maaco paint job, paint correction, or RV electrical hookup.

Extra fees may be applied for a custom design, that may include certain schemes, colors, and designs like stripes, shapes, or pictures.

In general, slide-outs are not included in the price estimate presented above and this is an extra expense you should budget for.

Important things to consider

RV Exterior PaintNon-metallic white tends to be a cheaper paint. If you have time, you can request offers for RVs or cars and you will notice that in most cases (not 100%) any other color is charged additionally. You will likely spend $700 more for a white RV or $1,000 for a colored RV than for painting a car in the same colors.

The perception of luxury means the choice of gray or black colors in the automotive field. If you analyze the color of RVs from premium brands, you will find that the proportion of metallic gray (dark or light) is higher than white.

But be careful… the ceiling is white because it reflects the sunlight/solar radiation, reduces the heating of the ceiling, and increases the thermal comfort inside the holiday toy, it has increased resistance to degradation over time.

In general, paint fades because of abrasive cleaners, sunlight, salt, and/or pollution, but as of now, it hasn’t been scientifically proven whether specific paint colors fade faster than others.

Tips for saving money

Take into consideration choosing fiberglass instead of repainting as this is much cheaper, its finishes are more resistant and will not absorb heat during the summer. According to DoItYourself.com, this way you will save around $5,100 when compared to the cost of a paint job.

Try to limit your customized finishes and graphics because it will not cost you more at the moment of repainting but also in the future. In case it will get damaged or scratched, the entire area would have to be painted again.

You should also limit your color, not only the customized finishes and graphics. Your costs will increase if you want to add more colors to your job.

Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of repainting a recreational vehicle. In general, this investment will not be worth it because it will not add much to the retail value of the vehicle. You will not be able to recover your costs 99% of the time. So, instead of paying around $10,000 for a repainting job, you better save that money and sell your recreational vehicle

Alec Pow
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